Activism: BRIAN STASZENSKI; Valuable Lesson

BRIAN STASZENSKI

Brian Staszenski, a 48-year-old bear of a man brimming with can-do enthusiasm, will try almost anything to help push humanity toward a greener future. As executive director of the Tomorrow Foundation in Edmonton, Alberta, this veteran Canadian environmentalist has used tactics ranging from the respectable (serving on government commissions and collaborating with corporations) to the militant (financing nonviolent civil-disobedience training for Alberta activists). "People say I push the envelope, but we're in a crisis situation," says Staszenski.

His most far-reaching initiative, though, is radical in the best sense of the word. It's Destination Conservation, a project that has directed environmental retrofits...